As many of you know, forums and especially forum games have been on decline as people have moved on to different social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and reddit. In order for VGS to survive, @TexAgRepublican and I are proud to announce we will be shutting this forum down.
Instead, we will be utilizing Skype. With Skype we can have live in-person Senate debates, speeches, and public relations. Players will be able to, using Google Docs, schedule stuff based on the real-life schedules of the AB.
We will also be implementing a point system. The player with the most points will win a $50 giftcard to Ross Dress for Less. You get points by passing major bills: extra points for bipartisan bills and for becoming President. Can you be the most effective politician?

@realDonaldTrump: If GOP senators don't support our National Emergency on the Southern Border, I will personally﻿ recruit and fund candidates to replace them who do.
@TexAgRepublican @realDonaldTrump bold words from a man who will be replaced by one of those Republicans in two years time.

1. Yes, the Russia Hoax is ongoing.
2. If we don't have borders, we don't have a country. I did what I had to do. (Yes, and I'll be releasing a news story about it)
3. All the shutdowns IRL occurred IG, yes.
4. I didn't like it. It didn't do the trick. But I signed it anyway.
Basically, we'll be starting on the date the new round starts and going from there. So everything that happened before the round begins happened IRL, just to make it easier for everyone. We also didn't want to start a round in the middle of a shutdown.

(Don't always believe what you read, this publication will have some outrageous articles and some serious. Obviously, this could argued to be in the outrageous category)
Is Lady Jacky Secretly Black?
Recently, California Republican Congresswoman “Lady Jacky” Jacky Williams made a comment to the San Diego Union-Tribune that she thinks Black America “deserves better than a family that uses rampant nepotism to gain power. That's not how the system is supposed to work. One day we will have a Black president, and it won't be a 'King.”
That is of course in reference to the recent appointment by Speaker of the House King’s appointment of his brother, Reginald King, to the chair position of the House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, and Judiciary committee.
However, those comments in particular have led to speculation in the beltway about why Jacky Williams thinks Black America deserves better when she herself is not black.
Could she actually be black? Could she be like Ellen Ripley in last July’s sci-fi hit, Aliens? Maybe she has been rescued by a deep salvage team after being in hypersleep for 57 years. A hidden part of the movie could have been that Ellen Ripley was actually black before being in hypersleep. Is Jacky Williams here from the past, or in this case 1929, where she was actually a black woman living in America?
We will keep you updated on this story, and more importantly, the latest speculation as we get it.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the debut show of the Savage Land. My name is Dutch Savage, and I am coming to you live from the cultural, financial, and artistic capital of the United States, the home of the greatest sport’s teams, the prettiest children, and various other lies, Cleveland, Ohio. We’ll have a song, and then there’s something I want to rant about. Alright, let’s rap. Let’s talk about life and politics. When you are born, you come into this world screaming and covered in blood. What’s that scream for? The doctors will tell you that it’s a sign that you’re breathing, yeah, but it’s more than that – it’s a primal moment it’s signifying, that last cry of freedom as you descend into a world of conformity and oppression and contouring and directing and control. In that moment your conditioning begins – you are narrowed down into a range of options, daddy, and those range of options become your whole world, your whole theoretical frame for what you can and can not do. What happens if you break the conditioning, momma? You get chastised, governed, imprisoned – your range of options are reduced even further until you have no choice but to conform or die. Christopher Williams hacked the system, baby – Christopher Williams didn’t conform. What happened? Well, the same thing that happens to you if you don’t conform. He was ostracized, punished – vilified in the press. They say that he’s corrupt – if corruption was enough to get you kicked out of Washington, they’d all be gone – and they say that without any evidence. They say that he’s ambitious – well yeah, he wouldn’t be a Senator if he wasn’t – and they say that like everyone listening to this show right now isn’t ambitious and wants something better. Ambition, man, the thing you get criticized for both having and not having. It’s what the philosophy types call a floating signifier – it means nothing until you want it to mean something, yeah, and Chris Williams’ opponents want it to mean something. But remember, nothing means nothing, jack, nothing means nothing. You can recast anything as long as you have the vision to see it that way an audience to listen to it. When you want to make money and funnel that into the pockets of the politicians and power brokers and big cigar boys then yeah, baby, be ambitious. Be ambitious all you want – be all that you can be, daddy, be it all – be a banker, be an army man, be a coffee jockey, whatever, just conform and be useful to what special interests have decided determines worth. But let’s say you want more. You don’t want to go home to your tv and your internet and your rage boxes and you just want to live. You just want to struggle. You just want to fight. You want to be a real person, not someone that has to tell you that they’re red blooded and strong and full of leadership -you want to be someone whose blood pumps America and that’s the way it is and no one can contest it. Then you are a problem. A deviant. A feminazi. A degenerate. An uppity black. A renegade. Yeah, you try and have ambition that this society doesn’t want you to have and you’re a problem, while at the same time they give faux-gold medals and cheap wooden plaques to those that bleed their lives dry for the machine. Let me tell you what Chris Williams did that was the real problem, daddy – his real sin. He deviated from what Krol and Moreno wanted, yeah, deviated from Krol and Moreno. This isn’t a fascist system, not on paper, but look at what happens to you if you don’t do what political leaders want. You get tarred, feathered, driven out on the rails - cursed to wander the land east of Eden, momma. He’s a sinner man because he violated the holy covenant with the party establishment that not a single god damn American outside of the beltway cares about. His sin is not conforming, and we see the faces of the beast, daddy. It’s not their fault – no politician is better than any other, they all conform. Democrats, Republicans, doesn’t matter, they’re all going to drown in the swamp of their own inequity. Alright, alright, alright, I’m sorry. I know we have sensitive listeners. My producer T. C. Lee has informed me that we have an interview ready. Welcome to the Savage Land, brother! Let me ask you something, T.C. over here is given me the hand sign that you’re important, a big political mucky muck. Let me ask you, rank the three biggest dicks in Washington. ‘Moreno, Krol, Benjamin.’ Oh, shooting hot fire. We don’t have a lot of time left, so any final words? ‘Fuck you, you incompetent fucks.’ Ooooh, have mercy daddy! Thanks for calling in, my man. T. C.’s giving me a pause sign over here – that was who? Jack Kline? The Big Eagle? Hold up. President Jack Kline? He retired? Well, damn. I’m going to take a pause, think about Jack Kline, and consider asking my interviewees who they are before I start talking. Here’s a song. Alright, alright, alright, let’s get to the news. President Jack Kline – Airforce Done? *Prolonged pause* Damn it, T.C. We all know now, it’s not breaking news, and never write puns again you animal. Next story. The GOP is splitting over a waiver on whether the Secretary of Defense nominee can take the job despite having recently served in the military. Given the option between the further militarization of the federal government or picking a shadowy technocrat, no one is quite sure on how to do the most damage to our country. I’m sure they’ll figure out. Is Tim Ryan challenging Nancy Pelosi for the Speakership? It sure seems likely. Personally, I support Representative Ryan – lord knows it’s high time that we get a lawyer turned career politician into high office and bring about real change. Christopher Williams is running for the Presidency. Water is wet, fire is hot, and no one is surprised. T.C. Lee, give me a copy of his platform, I want to break it down for the people. He doesn’t have a platform? Why did he announce? Jesus that’s a misstep. Is there an official campaign biography? Oh, okay, great. Let’s break that down, I have an hour to fill and I blew through the POTUS interview. ‘Senator Williams was born in the cornfields of a third-generation Iowa farm embodying the American dream.’ Christopher Williams was born in a corn-field? He’s a physical embodiment of the American dream? You heard it right here, folks – Christopher Williams is my fat white family drooling as they stare at the mere concept of celebrity, and was attended to at birth by cow nurses. I assume his bottle was filled with pure corn syrup and pseudo-nostalgia. ‘On a winter’s day in Des Moines, Iowa, Christopher and Jaclyn Williams brought into the world a son.’ Wait, I thought he was born in a cornfield? In winter? That’s just a field. An empty barren field, and who in the hell would give birth to a child in an empty field in the middle of winter? Was he born in the 1870s? ‘Christopher D. Williams III grew up on the family's ranch.’ Wait, is this a cornfield or a ranch? What the actual blue hell is happening here, T.C.? How does this work? Senator Williams, Senator Williams, listen to me here. The cows would eat the corn. The cows would eat the corn, daddy. COWS EAT CORN. Is this why they thought it was winter? Because the fields were barren because they ran a ranch and cornfield simultaneously? Did they go to a neighbor’s cornfield to give birth? Who goes to a neighbor’s cornfield in the middle of winter to give birth when you have a perfectly good birthing field of your own? Monsters, baby, that’s who. ‘His family, for the past three generations, had lived on that ranch, cultivated the land, and sold corn, wheat and other agricultural crops.’ Now there’s wheat? Where are the cows? ‘Williams also spent much of his time in the church. His father was a minister, turned pastor, and his mother was a missionary, turned First Lady, of the local congregation.’ This is a tragic narrative. It’s rare you hear a story of a minister successfully becoming a pastor. Entirely different skill set, momma, you need a lot of re-training. ‘After high school, Christopher attended college, earned a degree in political science and started working in finance. Afterward, he furthered his education, into business, and began working as a low-level staffer in his family's business. Just like everyone else, he had to work himself up. And that's exactly what he did. After marrying his high school sweetheart, getting degrees in business, law, and finance, he continued to work up the ladder of the business. Eventually, it all paid off.’ See, here’s a real story. A young man starting from nothing, going into the family business, and having to fight his way to the top. I’ve heard horror stories. Mommas making their babies sign NDAs, daddies forcing their kids to actually work. It’s a real horror show.
‘One of many lessons Christopher and Mary taught their children was: if you do your part, work hard, and play by the rules, you can get ahead and stay ahead.’ Looks like he forgot the part about being born into the business, but that seems like it would be implied in this family. ‘As a hardworking man in his family company, Williams risen up the ranks and eventually became CEO. As CEO, he created hundreds of thousands of jobs across multiple industries of business.’ T.C., am I having a stroke right now? Is this a family farm or a multi-national corporation? What kind of single corporation has hundreds of thousands of employees and still forces their original owner to give birth in the middle of a field? ‘As a longtime practicing lawyer, Williams also understood the rule of law. And in 2000, he began defending it front and center. He became a criminal courts judge, locking up hardened criminals and getting drug dealers and peddlers off the streets. The people of Illinois trusted him, launching him into the Attorney General's office.’ I do not understand a thing that is happening right now. I thought he was a farmer? Or a financier or political scientist or whatever? Is Christopher Williams multiple people? T. C., get me this man’s Congressional bio. Doo doo doo, family farm, corn, wheat, soybeans – SOYBEANS? Does this ranch do everything but cattle? Oh, here’s a treasure. ‘Williams Inc. approached low-income housing with gentrification, keeping the housing establishments up-to-par and providing child care and preschool services for tenants’ children, as well as shuttles to transport tenants to work.’ Looks like we have ourselves a slum lord here, T.C. Good thing he’ll stand up to the wealthy elite, I guess.
Anyway, that’s our time. Here’s an outro song. That’s the Savage Land, brother jack dudes!

First of all, I want to thank everyone for responding to the player survey. These surveys help give us a picture of how we’re doing and how we can improve. Since then, we’ve had some pretty serious discussions internally about where we need to go from here. The area of improvement most cited by players in the survey was reality response, and therefore generating/developing more scenarios will be a priority for the AB moving forward. To help us do this, I have decided to hire one more admin. @Huffines will be joining us on the AB. While Huffines is a new player here, he is not new to govsimming or politics in general. He’s been involved in real life politics here in Texas and played extensively on Tedder’s Capitol Hill game for the past year, eventually becoming President. He has always wanted to be an admin, but for various reasons (too valuable as a player, ideological balance on the AB, etc) the opportunity never presented itself. He is very excited to have the opportunity to do so here on VGS. His main focus will be on two things that we are currently lacking: scenario development and PAC’s. Huffines and @Sweet Daddy have already talked to me about new scenarios, and these will be rolled out soon (along with Trump’s reaction on twitter of course). Huffines will also be rolling out PAC’s to get more money to players and simulate the effects of special interests. Please welcome Huffines to the AB, and thanks for your continued interest in VGS.

U.S. Senate Descends into Chaos During Congressional Battle Royale
Washington D.C- The carnage on Capitol Hill was apparent from miles away as the first annual Senate Battle Royale commenced this Wednesday. Wielding armor, googles, and paintball guns, Senators across the Hill duked it out for ultimate supremacy in an attempt to appeal to younger voters. Elizabeth Sawyer (D-MD) struck the first blow in the competition after finding an automatic paint rifle hidden by the Candy Desk in the Senate chamber, using it to zap Senator James Sutherland (R-IL), who was desperately searching for armaments up in the gallery. From that point on, it was open season for the members of Congress’ upper house, with no clear favorite emerging.
During the mid-game, it appeared that a bi-partisan Gang of Six was going to wipe the floor with all contenders, but paranoia got the better of Senator Jared Elkins (D-NJ). Elkins first shot fellow New Jerseyite Gio Pagnotto in the back before turning on the other members of the group, which erupted into a fracas that left none of the former front-runners alive. Joe Dotson (D-WA), who had been tracking the group, was able to pick up the pieces of the melee, looting weapons from the cold, proverbially dead hands of his Republican colleagues. In the end, the contest seemingly came down to Dotson, Sawyer, Wilson Baudin (R-AR), and Luke Recks (R-AZ). Recks then pulled off the play of the game, dispatching Dotson and Sawyer in a three-way battle before sniping Baudin from long distance. The accomplished economist, mistakenly claiming victory, returned to the Senate House to claim his reward as the final zone began to close in.
At press time, Republican Senator Grayson Manado of Washington had won the contest. Manado, who had been hiding under the Senate clerk’s desk with a paint pistol throughout the duration of the contest, claimed victory by shooting Recks in the lower leg as he returned to the chamber.

Interest Groups Scramble as Congressional Trade Deadline Approaches
Washington D.C- Rumors were swirling across the Beltway this Thursday as corporations were faced with tough choices to make at the United States Congressional Trade Deadline. Perennial legislative contenders Exxon Mobile and Lockheed Martin were hoping to bolster their roster of purchased congressmen, while formerly major players in the law-passing game such as the American Coal Council were left staring down a long rebuild. After Exxon re-signed company favorite Senator Bill Malcolmson (R-AL) to a multi-year extension during the last lame duck session, many were wondering whether they had enough in the budget to trade with NARAL for highly sought after Senator John Hawkins (R-OK). But the petroleum giant proved doubters wrong, dealing Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and a third-round pick in the 2019 Freshman Congressman Draft for the rights to the hard hitting lawyer from OKC.
In the Democratic Conference, JP Morgan Chase was looking for a partner with which to offload former 2017 first round draft pick Chet Winger (D-NC). Once a highly touted prospect for the banking conglomerate, Winger’s stock within the tight-lipped organization reportedly fell after the centrist Democrat began to spout some left-leaning populist dogma during a press conference at the the end of the 115th congress. In the end, the best they could do was swap him with Time Warner Cable for some cash and several state legislators, with CEO Jaime Dimon rationalizing that it worth worth swallowing an imperfect deal in order to move what they saw as a cloakroom cancer off the company books. The other big story of the day was the AFL-CIO’s fire sale, as they offloaded Senators Justine-Sana Bauer and Anderson Whitman for a haul of 2020 and 2021 draft selections. When asked if the organization was calling it quits on getting anything done in the 2019 legislative session, union president Richard Trumka urged his members to “trust the process”.
At press time, fans of the USC were groaning and preparing for another year of legislation dominated by the NRA dynasty, who's entire roster took pay cuts in order to keep their squad together.

Character Name: Elizabeth MasdenHome State: WashingtonPrevious Job: Politics (Congressman, Governor, Mayor, or lower rank)
Spokane Tribal Council (2004-2009)
Natural Resource/Land Committee Head ATNI (2006-2009)
Congresswoman WA 05 (2009-2013)
Senator for WA (2013-)Date of Birth: 05/23/1979Race / Ethnicity: American Indian or Alaska NativeReligion: Protestant ChristianWealth: Middle ClassGender: FemaleSexuality: HeterosexualMarried?: YesChildren?: 2
Elizabeth Masden was born May 23, 1979, on the Spokane Indian Reservation in the city of Wellpinit, Washington. Elizabeth's family ranched and farmed just outside of the community, and despite this, her family still struggled economically. She was soon taken under the wing by a member of the Tribal Council, who helped her get the recommendation to attend the private Catholic Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane. After graduating from Gonzaga Prep she went on to enroll in Gonzaga University, seeking a degree in business administration and communications. While enrolled at Gonzaga Elizabeth met fellow Spokane tribe member, Joseph Browneagle, and the two quickly got married, and after both graduated from Gonzaga moved back onto the family ranch and their family quickly grew with the births of their two sons.
Elizabeth soon got a job as the head of the Natural Resource/Land Committee on the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, a nonprofit representing a multitude of tribes throughout the Pacific and Mountain Northwest region. She worked on that committee representing and fighting for native values of responsible and sustainable land management and ownership. Once her children grew a bit older she decided to run for Tribal Council of the Spokane tribe and was soon elected as a Chairwoman, representing her community on the tribal council. Soon thereafter she was promoted to the Executive Council of the ATNI, further growing her political influence in Eastern Washington, especially amongst the native population.
In 2007, she announced she would challenge Cathy McMorris-Rogers for Washington's Fifth Congressional District. She was able to turn out young, minority, and new voters in droves thanks to a social media, and twitter campaign aimed at exciting a progressive base of voters, with the support of typically liberal policies such as a move towards renewables, a public healthcare option, and debt-free college. However, she was able to maintain support among the areas many conservatives by proclaiming she was personally pro-life, while politically pro-choice, and also an advocate for responsible second amendment rights, being a gun owner herself.
In 2011, after narrowly holding onto her Eastern Washington seat, Masden decided to jump into the open Senate race after Maria Cantwell unexpectedly decided to retire. She won by double digits.

THE LONG SHADOW OF BILL RICCIO
Bill Riccio with an unidentified member of the Aryan Youth Front
Deep in the woods outside of Birmingham, Alabama, there is a compound. Little more than a house and a few adjoining structures, this otherwise nondescript building has become the nesting grounds for the Neo-Nazism in the American South. Forty-four years after the Allied victory in World War II and the suicide of Adolf Hitler, this building acts as a glimpse as to what might have been and, for Bill Riccio, a vision of what will come. In 1992, documentary cameras came to the compound, known as the WAR (White Aryan Resistance) House and interviewed Riccio, the leader of an organization known as the Aryan National Front and its youth-wing, the Aryan Youth Front. On camera, we saw Riccio and a collection of teenagers perform the Nazi salute, watch video of the Nuremberg rallies, eat Swastika-adorned birthday cake. Riccio, then in his mid-thirties, spoke to the documentarians about how he envisioned WAR House: “This house here has been a springboard for the skinhead movement in this area. They can hang out here, bring their dates here, we cookout, you know, they can drink, we have a good time. As we began to fellowship here, our numbers grew and we began to use it as a recruiting station.” The Riccio of Skinhead USA saw himself as a savior for disaffected white youth: “We want the broken toys. Send us your broken toys, and we’ll fix ‘em for you. These kids received a lot of material things in life: they had a car at sixteen, a stereo in their room, a tv in their room, but their father never gave them love. We have people in our ranks that were abused by their parents. They’ve run away because they could not stand living at home. They were living on the streets, they had no food, no shelter; we go to ‘em and we approach ‘em and say, ‘Look, we’ll feed you. Come in here and we’ll take care you of you. You’re white, you’re of our people, you have a home now.” 1992 was a pivotal moment for the Aryan National Front and Aryan Youth Front. Not only were they the subject of a ground-breaking documentary, they organized a 150 man-strong protest in Birmingham and established key ties with other white nationalist organizations, such as the Hammerskins and the Ku Klux Klan. Then, as always in such situations, violence broke out. On April 18, 1992, three young men and one young woman involved with the Aryan National Front encountered Benny Rembert, a homeless black man living on the streets of Montgomery Alabama. Rembert was stabbed then placed in the way of an oncoming train. Rembert’s death, carried out in celebration of Hitler’s birthday, led to the end of the Aryan National Front. The death of Rembert and the ensuing investigation saw Bill Riccio arrested and placed under eight years of supervised probation. It was not Riccio’s first brush with the law. Born William E. Davidson, Riccio was first arrested in 1979 for possession of a sawed-off shotgun, and received probation. In 1985, he was convicted of the same crime and possession of marijuana. In 1989, he was convicted of misdemeanor assault for attacking a protest organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1992, following the protest in Birmingham and the death of Rembert, Riccio was convicted on a range of charges including the illegal possession of firearms, the possession of grenades, and employing armed bodyguards. In total, Riccio spent a year in prison for his life of crime, all while ricocheting between membership in his own organizations, the Hammerskins, and the Ku Klux Klan. Now, in 1999, there is a second chapter in the story of Bill Riccio that can be told. Two of those disaffected teens who came to Riccio for leadership have made national headlines: Howard Cleves and Peter Robins, the two men responsible for the attempted lynching of thirteen year old Thomas Ross, whose chance at posthumous justice was thwarted when the trial of his attackers was ended by Judge Mike McCormick. Both men were members, according to sources within the FBI, of the Aryan Youth Front. With this long history of organized violence against black Americans, his grooming of white teens with no one else to rely on, and a consistent history of violating the law in the pursuit of a Nazi America, the ambush killing of the Ross family must be viewed in a new light: they were victims not of spontaneous attempted lynching and a retaliatory ambush, but a concerted effort by an organized group to inspire hatred and fear. Bill Riccio is a free man, and now it seems that those he trained to continue his war against minorities in this country might go free as well. As a member of the Aryan Youth Front said in the 1992 documentary, “I can’t say that we’re not violent. We are violent. But we’re violent for our race.” As long as men like Bill Riccio are free, the violence will not stop. The FBI has refrained from pursuing hate crime charges because Thomas Ross was not ‘engaged in a federally protected act.’ What does it say of our country in 1999 that life is not something that is federally protected?

Name Anderson Scooper
Political/Journalistic Background Former political reporter for New Haven Register; Former Press Secretary to Mayor Anderson Sherman of New Haven; Political reporter for New York Daily News; Contributor on the Daily Show with Craig Kilbourne; Contributor on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Your Telegram @MrAndersonVGS

I don't know if any of you have noticed but with @Ollie having real life commitments keeping him from the game, I do think it's time I hire a new Chief Administrator.
So here is where I'm at: I think the game hit the ground running, we were doing well during election season, but as it always happens during the legislative part of the game, activity dies down. It seems players simply aren't interested in participating in House/Senate debates enough to keep the game going. Not only that but the AB is being presented with real life that means they haven't been as active as they'd like.
So how do we solve this without shutting the game down? I'm going to use the "r" word: I don't think a reset will fix any issues. I think we'll all get excited, people will sign in, people will run for office, and then during the break between elections, we'll be seeing the same issue. We saw it time and time again in VUSA and I don't want VGS to start that cycle. I also feel like activity is too dependent on the AB. We need an active AB but it should be players, not the AB, that generate activity.
We need a new Chief Administrator that will hopefully be able to step in, shape an AB to address activity issues, AND figure out a way to get people engaged in governing when they don't seem interested in doing that....or becoming WAY more focused on elections. Problem is we don't have THAT many members so....forming a new AB is going to be tough. I don't have the time, the will, or the energy to be that CA. Nobody in the AB is that person either, they've made that clear.
So I'm going to the player base. If you want to be CA and you think you can address the challenges of this reset, I welcome you to apply. But I'm going to be very clear: I don't think it's time for a reset. If we can't make THIS reset work, this early, we won't make ANY reset work. You will be able to change the calendar, make all the gameplay adjustments you want, but a reset is off the table.
I also encourage all of you to stop doing nothing. Start doing PRs. Start participating in debates. Start doing stuff. Start actually playing and stop worrying about whether or not the AB will write about it. If we can't make this reset work, the game won't work. And we can't make the reset work if players just wait for a reset or they wait for the AB to act. Play the game, have fun, and give feedback.

A big welcome to Huffines ^
Since some have asked, the debates for both primary fields being held by an independent entity on the same day required priorities to be transposed slightly so yes, barring complete cataclysm ARs should come out some time tomorrow. I didn't get home until well into the evening last night, and had to catch up on everything I'd missed and make sure y'all had your SIG money after Clay had to pick up the slack of my unexpected LOA this week, and have had to fit AR grading in between the two debates, but you'll get them by tomorrow night.

Dolores Huerta Reacts to Si, Se Puede and #SiSePueda
Dolores Huerta, the American labor leader who popularized the phrase ‘Si, se pueda’ during the struggle for Latino labor rights released a statement to the Associated Press following a tweet from United States Senator Randy Rivera (D-NM) about Senator Catherine Williams’ (D-CA) use of the phrase in her own tweet promoting the Spanish-language version of her campaign website.
Huerta, long known for her unwillingness to mince words, condemned both Senators. “’Si, se puede’ is a registered trademark of the United Farm Workers. It is our slogan. It was something that emerged from deep within our souls during a dark time in our history and helped empower us to overcome our oppressors. It was already stolen in the past for broad political campaigning, and with every use it becomes more disassociated with what we intended it to be. It is about labor liberation, the rights of the worker, and the freedom of Hispanics. It’s not about getting anyone elected to political office, but that is what it has become.” She said, likely referencing the English translation of ‘Yes we can’ used by Barack Obama during the 2008 election as well as various other times the phrase has been re-appropriated for personal, commercial, or political use.
“At the same time,’ Huerta continued. “It has become part of the public consciousness. It has come to mean more than those initial struggles, and the spirt of si, se pueda belongs to all those that have embodied its spirit over the decades. While it is our legal property at the United Farm Workers, it is something that stopped being exclusive to the spirit of Hispanic Americans or laborers long ago.”
So far, the use of the phrase by Rivera has not particularly resonated with Democratic voters, who have been torn between seeing it as pandering to a narrow part of Rivera’s base and it just being a rip from the Obama 2008 campaign, where it became a rallying cry for his base. The use by Catherine Williams has been even more chastised due to Rivera’s embrace of the phrase, and the larger twitter-verse has mocked her misspelling of ‘puede’ as well as various other errors in her Spanish language website, such as when she claimed that she had ‘announced with the diverse and extraordinary women of the view.’
As it stands, neither the use of the phrase or Rivera’s claim to misappropriation have had a significant impact in the polls, but both have turned some heads and caused some chuckles. When pressed on her interpretation of the Iowa Straw Poll, Huerta commented that she was going to refrain from endorsing at this point in the primary, but that she had seen very little from Rivera’s campaign that bolstered his claim to being the primary representative of labor in the election. “There was a lot of lip service to unions and wages at the Iowa Straw Poll, but the only one I saw go beyond that was [Minnesota Senator Harvey] Newton. I’d like to know more about how he would approach issues affecting Hispanics, but I like that he takes labor seriously.”

I'm happy to announce that @Clay has agreed to join the Admin team. Clay brings a lot of great experience and insight to our team both as a former player and admin. He'll be available to contribute in many areas, but he will mostly be focusing on economic and domestic scenarios right now. Please welcome Clay to the AB. Thanks.

The full Senate is now meeting to debate the Georgia Support Act, numbered per the orders of the Majority Leader as Senate resolution 6. The members of this noble chamber, especially my fellow Southerners should please note that this bill is pertaining to the Country of Georgia not the great state of Georgia which is on my mind.

I want to address the issue with the Nepotism hearings and the rationale of the AB in response to the process. The hearings were pursued essentially like a witch hunt, which was realistically neither called for nor appropriate. The AB is doing it's best to simulate realism and the conduct of the hearing was... not realistic. I apologize that we did not address this sooner.

I usually do not try to criticize the AB publicly, but I think the last 24-72 hours have shown us that there are some things which need to be fixed. I think there is an AB backlog which needs to be resolved ASAP. Today's issues would have been made a lot better if there was an AB member there to provide guidance on how to handle this situation. I understand Baudin is on LOA right now, so I am not blaming him as he has a legitimate reason to be away.
Not to mention, there are things we are still waiting on from the AB which have been requested for. A game calendar, IVS (the House already has votes which need tallied, so this needs to be a top priority), and technical requests are among those things.
We have players literally going on rage LOA due to the AB backlog. We should be lucky they aren't ragequitting.
Again, I do not want to criticize you guys and I do understand you have a real life, but I am afraid things are just starting to fall a little too far behind right now. Thank you for taking the time to read this and resolving the issues.

IT HAS RETURNED! Dark Secrets will make a comeback in VGS Reset 2! In the age of Gary Hart, the Keating Five, and Iran-Contra, it would be a disservice to not allow this option for players. Dark Secrets is completely optional for all players. Benefits of Dark Secrets include influence in the IVS and a bump in cash to a player's bank account. As we all know, dark secrets may not stay secret forever and thus you risk exposure and fallout if your dark secret is uncovered. Keep your eye out for inquisitive Miami Herald investigative reporters and the occasional flash of a camera from the National Enquirer!
The Biography Guidelines have also been updated. I encourage everyone to take a gander at the changes that have been made before considering making your new character. You will notice a new component called "Faction" underneath your political party. The new faction system will be expanded on over the next few days but it will significantly contribute to the new IVS influence system we will be rolling out shortly.

I want begin by thanking everyone for the positive messages of encouragement sent my way that compelled me to consider the position of Chief Administrator. I want to personally thank both @Cyril and @MrAnderson for their faith in me to carry VGS forward. I remain of the firm belief that Anderson's AB set this game on the right path and helped the current reset survive as long as it has. I think we can all agree that the 2016 elections went from potentially not even happening to a resounding success and the credit for making that happen goes to Anderson and his AB.
After consulting with Anderson and a few other individuals, we have come to the decision that VGS will be resetting. This is a decision made with careful consideration and an understanding of the need for a fresh start. I want to thank everyone who participated in the current reset who played their part in making it such a success. It's time for us as a community to move forward and I believe a reset will make that possible.
Over the next few days, the AB will be working on archiving the current reset and establishing a new time table for when players can expect the new reset to begin. We will be reviewing our current game mechanics while also entertaining the development of new ones if the player base deems it something of particular interest. I have my own ideas for game mechanics that will aim to enhance the IG world for the player base that I hope to roll out in the coming days but I want to encourage all members of our community to give suggestions on ways we can improve.
VGS isn't just a game but a community. We've got a wide array of folks from across the political spectrum that have come together to engage in spirited debate with one another and work with one another to create a realistic simulation of our own world. I remember back when I joined the 4th reset of Virtual America and I'm happy to say I've been around ever since. I've grown both as a player, as I bet people like @Conrad and @Baudin can attest to, and I'd argue I've grown as a person in both my own beliefs and knowledge of politics. VGS is a community worth fighting for and I am ready to keep this game moving forward. I'm looking forward to being a CA you all can be proud of and I hope to live up to the precedent that people like Anderson have left for me.

Beginning in the 2017 year IG, all players with executive branch characters will be required to keep a Senate multi, except POTUS. (Ie: VP and all cabinet members).
This is to maintain high senate activity and keep the games focus on everyone, not just the WH.

No, I'm the Outsider: Moreno v. Williams, Round 1
by Johnathan Christian (Deputy Editor)
LAS VEGAS, NM - At the Venetian Resort in sunny Las Vegas, two political heavyweights showed up to engage in verbal combat. With a desire to appeal to an angry electorate - one who is fed up with subsequent Democratic presidents who they deem to "do nothing," one theme persisted throughout the night: the desire to be seen as the political outsider. What follows is a digesting of the first Republican primary debate, between Senators John Moreno (AZ) and Christopher Williams (IL).
The Stakes
Since the word "2016" entered into the national vocabulary, two Republicans have appeared to be chomping at the bit. First, of course, is Christopher Williams who was the first nationally-recognized candidate to launch his campaign. Williams caused quite a stir in 2014 with his expulsion from the Republican Party - a theme to come up during the debate. He also won a commanding first place at CPAC with 43% of the vote - compared to a last-place finish of just 13% back in 2014.
Next is Senate President pro tempore Moreno. He also improved over the crowded 2014 CPAC showing if ever so slightly, moving from 23% to 28% of the crowd's support. But Moreno is a leader of the Republican caucus, being a former Republican Whip and is seen to have the backing of most of the Republican establishment so far. The stakes, therefore, were for early-state dominance in the primary season.
Judges' Decisions
The debate, moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper, had 8 segments. We will rate both candidate's performance in each major segment, followed by an overall grade for the debate.
Opening Statements
Williams did a good job explaining who he was and what experience he brings to the table. He also outlined a few of his priorities: the economy and national security. B+
Moreno appealed to the working families of America right off the bat, expressing anger and frustration with the establishment. It offered little in terms of introduction, but was very powerful emotively. B-
Infrastructure
Moreno was the target of Cooper's question, and answered decently about his objections to the National Infrastructure Bank in terms of bureaucracy and the establishment. But in light of Williams' attack, it lost some ground and left some scratching their heads. C
As alluded to earlier, Williams jumps into the fray and knocks Moreno down a peg. Probably his best response of the night comes right out of the bat. A-
Job Creation
William's background overshadows his policy objectives on this question, leaving viewers waiting for something more. He squandered an opportunity to make the economy part of his toolbox. B-
Moreno returned to infrastructure, where he made up some lost ground from earlier (and continued on his anti-establishment theme). Then, he pivoted to job creation by announcing a 4-pronged plan of action - heavy on policy but still digestible to the average viewer. A
Budget
Moreno ties Kennedy, who is probably the most popular Democratic president of the 20th century among Republicans, to the cause of Reaganomics, earning him kudos from moderates while making his point eloquently. B+
Williams tried to attack Moreno on his budget negotiations, but Moreno's fall back to cutting $300 billion was enough to impress the fiscal hawks who were intently watching this portion of the debate. C+
At this point in time, the candidates engaged in a verbal back-and-forth and the audience knew it was going to get more personal. In this brief exchange, neither candidate "won," but Moreno appeared to solidify his growing lead and it appeared to zap a lot of Williams' energy, as his response became shorter and less clear as the night went on.
Williams Expulsion
Williams dodges the question of his ability to lead the Republicans in the wake of his expulsion by the Republican caucus. This is probably one of his worse responses of the night, and a question he would probably rather never came up. D
Moreno responds not only to Cooper's question about expelling Williams, but he also points to his agenda in a positive pivot. B
Cyber Security
Moreno delivers a standard response about cyber security, singling out China and Russia as global bad actors. C
Williams regains some energy and backtracks, before delivering a lackluster response on cyber security. He does go into border security, however, which makes him a favorite of many hardcore anti-immigration activists. C
Border Security/Immigration
Williams tones down some of his extremist rhetoric we've seen in the past, but his answer lacks vision (despite the post-debate commentary by CNN) and is narrowly focused. B-
Moreno delivers a policy-heavy address that hits on many of the key buzzwords of immigration reform. How it plays with Republican audiences depends on their orientation - be they pro-immigration or anti-immigration. Overall, however, its a well-thought-out answer and trumps Williams' by comparison. B+
Closing Statements
Williams delivers a brief closing statement without any major persuasive power. It fails to develop much of a theme for the night, but then again doesn't hurt Williams by playing it safe. C
Moreno's closing statement is a paean to America followed by a lambasting of the elites and the establishment. The only faux pas is his repeating of the crossroads theme, which Williams just previously used. B
And the Winner Is...
Here at PoliticalHack.com, we are not in the business of issuing endorsements or consulting for one campaign over the other. But we do feel that, along with the popular opinion in the news media, Senate President pro tempore John Moreno of Arizona edged out Senator Christopher Williams in this battle.
If one gives equal weight to each of these segments, it appears that Moreno ends up passing class with a B while Williams is not too far behind with a C+.
While the underlying theme of the debate centered around political elites and the establishment, the fact of the matter is that neither John Moreno - the embodiment of the Senate Republican caucus - or Christopher Williams - the mega-rich political dynast - are political outsiders. The national tone is one of frustration, but instead of tearing up the eventual nominee, it appears that they could better spend their capital attacking the perceived Democratic shortcomings of the past eight years and pitching constructive alternatives. We'll see how this all plays out - if and when we see Moreno v. Williams, Round 2.

These aren't GAME announcements but rather community or forum announcements. As such I am dedicating this thread to announcements from me. For the most part, you can ignore this thread but it's my way of keeping you guys informed with what I'm doing. And of boring you.
[*] Long quotes will now be shortened to 5 lines. There will be a "read more" button added at the bottom.
[*] I've installed a currency mod. It will be up to the AB if, when, and how it's used.
[*] My posts are now SPECIAL in they have a special background. Pretty cool, right? No? Well too bad. I like it.
[*] Members can now set up 2-factor authentication to better protect their account. Any member with access to the AdminCP MUST use 2-factor authentication.
[*] There is now a Guidelines link at the top menu (under Miscellaneous) that takes you to the Terms of Service.
Also:
[*] If you know how to effectively use Facebook ads, please contact me. I'm not saying I'm going to run Facebook ads but I'm also not saying I won't.
Can I just say I'm extremely pleased with the work @Ollie and @Kemal Bora and @Baudin and @MrAnderson and @Avner and @Ben are doing right now? They set up not just the game but most of the forum from scratch with very little assistance from me so this is all on them. One of them even did the logo! All I did was set up the domain, set up the forum on server software, and installed a couple mods. So a big round of applause to them for getting this game off it's feet.
I hope your all as excited as I am for VGS to really kick off.

I am pleased to announce that Luke will be joining the AB as the new Foreign Affairs Administrator. Luke comes to us with plenty of Admin experience and I think he was President once somewhere...Anyway.
Congrats Luke!

THIS is CNN Breaking News........
On behalf of @Tyler Swanson, he wanted me to announce that all election results will be announced on the 21st. This includes Presidential, Senate, and House election results. Therefore, the round two submission deadline will be moved to the 18th (Monday) at 11:59pm ET.

On behalf of the entire AB (Vandy, myself, Lloth, Tyler, Cwill, Bella, and our owner Cyril), we would like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!!
Go eat some turkey, gain a few pounds, and we hope to see you back ready to burn off those calories here on VGS soon!!

We have made a ruling on third-party and independent candidates for President.
We will allow such candidates to run but to simulate the uphill battle that is ballot access, we are going to make them petition to become official candidates. This means that we will start a thread in the OOC forum where 2/3rds of the active player base as per the roster is going to have to "sign" the petition (so post in the thread) for them to quality as an official candidate.
Later on tonight I'm going to go through and make sure the roster is updated with all the active players and the people who have passed activity limits signed out to determine the official threshold for @Marmot_Of_The_Marsh and start the thread for him to start collecting signatures.

Lisa Spicer: So, to almost no surprise, Senator John Moreno has not sought reelection to be the Republican party’s chair. Of course, a party chair cannot run for president to receive their own party’s nomination and in the case of Senator Moreno, well, he’s one of the GOP’s inevitable presidential candidates.
However, an RNC aide speaking on condition of anonymity has told WNC that John Moreno didn’t even get a simple nomination to retake his job atop the political organization.
Now if there’s anything nefarious about that, something like ‘Republicans in Congress don’t particularly think Moreno would be a good leader again’, then one could say that returning the gavel of the U.S. House into the hands of Nancy Pelosi in an election in which the budget he had a primary role in negotiating was a major issue….and perhaps tilted the scales of the election to Democrats..maybe, possibly hurt John Moreno in terms of internal support from the party. Idk! Maybe...right?
But let’s say that’s just a very cynical way of looking at things. Perhaps everyone knows he’s running for President and said, ‘well, you know, he’s running, so we won’t even consider him to be our chairman again - he did a great job, absolutely stellar, but he’s running for president, so no - don’t even consider him!’. Maybe that happened.
Well, operating by that same logic, get this. Republican Benny Knuckles, one of North Carolina’s senators, has also been considered a candidate for president. Now, let’s be clear, his ‘inevitability’ is not even close to that of John Moreno. Nevertheless, he had been considered a possible 2016 contender for the GOP nomination for president. Senator Knuckles...he got a nomination to be RNC Chairman.
Now, let’s go back. If party insiders are saying ‘anyone who is possibly running for president shouldn’t even be considered to run our party because they’d have to oversee those primary elections’ and therefore declined to nominate the incumbent chair - John Moreno - to continue leading the party because he’s a possible 2016 candidate, wouldn’t that same logic apply to potential candidate for president Benny Knuckles?
Apparently not.
Or maybe my previous - did I say nefarious? - point...is reality. Maybe John Moreno’s political support within his own party is dwindling after perhaps being seen as the reason Nancy Pelosi is becoming the new House Speaker and not, say, Paul Ryan. I don’t think that’s too far from the truth, and it certainly isn’t very far. Now, to be clear, our GOP source didn’t exactly express why they themselves thought this entire RNC chair nomination-election phenomenon surrounding John Moreno took place...there were no cues on the GOP internal temperature regarding John Moreno.
But David Krol. Boy, oh yes. We’ll get to that when we get back.
COMMERCIAL
Lisa Spicer: We’re back on WNC Tonight, I’m Lisa Spicer.
As the new Congress commences, leadership elections have taken place. The noteworthy leaders: Nancy Pelosi is Speaker, fending off a challenge from a younger Tim Ryan from the Midwest; John Boehner was roundly rejected to lead the House Republicans in favor of Paul Ryan, a budget hawk seen as capable of bridging divides between the establishment and the tea party.
In the Senate, Lewis Clayborne - a well-respected Democratic leader - was picked to atop the new Democratic Senate minority. For the Republicans, of course, David Krol leading their Senate caucus.
But what about the deputy? What about the new Senate Majority Whip? What about John Moreno, who made a name for himself as the second in command atop the Republican Senate leadership?
Well, an RNC aide shed some light on the GOP’s nomination process in these internal elections. First, he shed light on the fact that John Moreno didn’t receive a single nomination to be RNC chair, a position he held during last year’s midterm elections in which the Republicans won the Senate but returned the House to Democrats and Nancy Pelosi. After the fact, he went on a radio show and said this about his future in the leadership.
Lisa Spicer: As a presidential candidate? Yeah, we know. Everyone knows. The real question is why, just a few questions prior, John Moreno completely and utterly dodged on whether he’ll run in 2016 - even when his ‘inevitability factor’ is through the roof? I don’t know, but I digress.
Back to the leadership elections. Senator Moreno says he decided not to be in the leadership. This came after receiving not a single nomination to be RNC chair. Was this dwindling in influence among his GOP colleagues a reason? Who knows, that’s just speculation. A better question is why no one has accepted the nomination they were given by their colleagues to run for the position John Moreno is now shunning? Because that is exactly what is happening.
According to an internal aide familiar with the Republicans’ leadership election processes, ‘nobody’ has accepted their nomination to be David Krol’s Senate deputy. Why? ‘Because David Krol likes to run his own whip operation’, says this source. In more, say simplistic terms, David Krol is seen as a control-freak, perhaps uneasy to work with.
By the looks of things, this alleged sentiment is leading many in the Senate caucus to think to themselves, ‘Who wants to be Krol’s lapdog, because I surely don’t’. As of right now, no new Majority Whip has been elected by Republicans in the Senate.
We’ll be right back.”

The Times-Tribune is a news outlet based in New York City, New York. The daily newspaper covers the news of the day and runs commentaries on social, political, and cultural issues, including editorial pieces from the organization's editorial board. The Times-Tribune similarly features occasional guest writers. It's editor in chief is Nathaniel Dreaux, a New Orleans native.